MILAN — Jean Paul Gaultier is to tap into the niche fragrance craze by introducing a higher-positioned collection.
Named Les Ateliers Gaultier, the line is a tribute to the couture side of the fashion house, nodding to its founder and his codes in the names and bottles of the six scents in the range.
In an interview with WWD, Ana Trias, president of prestige and fashion brands at Puig, the Spanish group that controls the brand’s fashion and beauty businesses, described the launch as a natural step in the label’s journey.
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“Jean Paul Gaultier has all the couture pieces and we always thought we wanted to go into a more elevated world of fragrances, putting more money into the ingredients, the juices, the bottle, and finding this link between the haute couture and the savoir-faire in everything concerning fragrances,” said Trias, who also oversees the Carolina Herrera, Rabanne, Dries Van Noten and Nina Ricci brands, in addition to Jean Paul Gaultier.
She underscored how the French label “is living a super momentum and expanding,” mentioning the buzz around the appointment of creative director Duran Lantink and the two fashion collections he has paraded in Paris so far.
“We thought this was the right moment to elevate [the fragrances] because the brand was living a very good moment. It only made sense. Maybe we are late to the party, but we needed to be in this party, and here we are,” said Trias. “The market of fragrances is exploding in a way. We are reaching different consumers and today when they look for a fragrance, they look much more for identity and emotion.…Collections like this allow the consumers that want to experiment more, try things that are more niche, and play in a different way.”
The demographic attracted to the range might be surprisingly young, as the executive noted how perfume is “almost the new fashion” in enabling such generations to define their identity. “They use fragrances to express themselves. They are exploring a lot. This is true for the niche category, but also for the prestige one,” mentioned Trias, pointing to the category’s boom on TikTok and how the platform’s audience knows “a lot about perfume and [is] very savvy on ingredients and notes.”
“I’m impressed, having worked so many years in this category it’s so nice to see young people so interested in fragrances,” she continued. “I spend my nights on TikTok because you learn from them, they are putting the bar very high. For people working in fragrances it’s only beautiful to see how much interest and knowledge there is out there, because it can only help us to even go higher and launch more interesting things.…And I prefer this pressure.”
The new lines’ higher price point — 260 euros for the 100-ml. size, which is the only format available — further allowed the company to put extra effort into the juices, which were created by different noses tasked “to really bring more creativity, break the molds.”
Florian Gallo created Rose Palace, a fragrance blending damask rose and black sesame, while Jordi Fernandez was behind French Oud, revisiting the leathery and smoky accord with the freshness of bitter orange. Quentin Bisch created both Cuir 1976, blending textured leather with the velvety softness of marron glacé, and Musc Terrible, which nods to the founder’s nickname and rebellious spirit by balancing an amber and spicy musk with powdery vanilla and top notes of cinnamon and pink pepper.
Master perfumer Marie Salamagne was behind Ambre Tatouage, which she defined as an “encounter between a deep, mysterious amber and the floral, delicate flesh of the fig,” while Coralie Spicher and Fabrice Pellegrin worked together on Santal Paname, where blackberry meets woody sandalwood.
The scents come in glass bottles with a retro appeal and details winking to the house’s couture tradition, such as the metal logo intertwining with a safety pin and a vintage-looking pear pump sprayer adorned with the fabrics of the ateliers. Secondary packaging showcasing golden topstitching on a white background further reinforce the theme.
The highly selective rollout will begin at Printemps in Paris and via Lagardère at the Charles de Gaulle airport, before expanding in Europe, Middle East and in the travel retail channel, in addition to the brand’s online store. “We will start in the areas where we are stronger today,” said Trias, teasing distribution in the U.S. will come in a second phase.
“We are growing in the U.S. a lot, but it’s a market where we still need to do [some work to] catch up,” she said.
Overall, she sees opportunities also in balancing the brand’s male and female fragrance businesses, as she pointed out that the label is stronger in its men’s offering at the moment, led by the success of historic franchise Le Male and its ability to engage with different generations of consumers, for one.
Trias said building coherence over the years and across the fashion and beauty businesses was the secret ingredient behind the label’s momentum, highlighting Puig‘s advantageous position in overseeing both categories and “have the brand under one unique vision.” The group is looking to further bank on this aspect, as the executive reinforced how the firm is “engaged for the long term with Duran [Lantink]” and how “we do have conversations where we talk both categories with Duran already today.”
As for other buzzy conversations, as previously reported, the Spanish fragrance and fashion company and the Estée Lauder Cos. said on March 23 that they are in merger talks.
Last month, Jose Manuel Albesa, Puig chief executive officer, during a call with financial analysts and journalists to discuss first-quarter results, said these are ongoing, and that no final decision has been made.
If the two companies do come together, the beauty powerhouse would have just over $20 billion of estimated combined sales, making it the largest premium beauty player worldwide.
In addition to the aforementioned brands, Puig’s portfolio includes niche fragrance labels such as Byredo, Penhaligon’s and L’Artisan Parfumeur, as well as Charlotte Tilbury and a dermocosmetics activity. The group, which went public in July 2024 in Spain, recorded net sales of 5.04 billion euros last year, representing a 5.3 percent gain on 2024 in reported terms and 7.8 percent on a like-for-like basis.